This invention relates to an inhalation device or incentive breathing exerciser for use in respiratory therapy.
A recognized technique for treating patients with respiratory deficiencies or patients recovering from thoracic or abdominal surgery is the use of breathing exercisers. Such devices enable patients to strengthen and more fully utilize their respiratory systems, thus hastening recovery and avoiding complications such as pneumonia and lung collapse.
Among the inhalation devices presently known is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,608. In using this device, a patient inhales through a tube connected near the bottom end of a container with a cylindrical wall and dome-shaped ends. Inhalation causes air to be drawn into the top end of the container through a port, then across the top end and into a larger port of a passageway leading down the wall to the breathing tube. The venturi effect associated with airflow between the ports causes a lightweight ball to rise from the bottom of the container, and continued inhalation keeps the ball suspended.
While the above-mentioned patent and references cited therein disclose a number of improvements in breathing exercisers such as reduced cost and complexity, the devices described cannot readily be used in certain types of respiratory therapy. In particular, since the prior art devices respond to inhalation rate, they are ill-suited for measuring the actual volume of air inhaled by a patient or for use in exercises wherein a patient takes a breath and holds the breath for a desired time interval. The holding of a deep breath for a measured time such as 2-4 seconds has been recognized as a valuable aspect of respiratory therapy.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an inhalation device for accurately measuring the volume of air inspired by a patient.
It is another object of the invention to provide an incentive inhalation device for measuring the volume of air inspired by a patient and the length of time the inspired air is held by the patient.
It is also a object of the invention to provide an incentive inhalation device which, in addition to the foregoing, is compact, inexpensive, shatter-resistant, and easy to use.